Monthly Archives: September 2015

If you aren’t engaged already, you’ll find out really quickly that as soon as you announce your engagement the first question that everyone will ask you is, “ so, when is the wedding?”. This is the first and most frequent question you’ll get, from family, friends and even strangers. Followed by a barrage of questions you haven’t even thought of yet and lots and lots of unwanted advice. After being engaged for just one short week, you’re likely to be completely burnt out on wedding planning and wanting to throat punch anyone who asks you about your plans. Try hard not lash out at the poor innocent bystanders. Here are a couple of tips to stay sane.

I get asked about my wedding all day, every day. When you feel wedding overloaded and just can’t talk about wedding planning another second, don’t be afraid to politely ask for a different subject. Especially in regards to your close friends that you see regularly. If they bring it up or ask “how’s is planning going?” they are likely just interested in your life and excited for you. You can respond honestly by saying something like “it’s going well, but honestly I want to take a break from it, can we chat about you?” This allows you move on from wedding topics without being rude. This response would work for non-close friends also, but just make sure you tell your closest friends, you will likely see them more often!

My mom calls me every day with new ideas and plans. Surely your mother realizes you must lead a life outside of planning a Hill Country wedding. However, it can be like having a 2nd job, and maybe you should treat it like one. Set a meeting or phone call time with your mom or family member to chat about the wedding. Maybe it’s once a week and you get together over brunch or dinner. Tell your Mom to compile her ideas and so you can chat about them at the meeting each week. You can do this in a courteous way by saying something like “I would really like to consider all of your ideas fully when you present them, but I can’t do that if I am interrupting a work day or an evening at home. Can we set a weekly time to discuss them so I have the focus to really consider them?” This is boundary setting. It’s an adult thing. And it’s really good practice for more challenging situations with Mom in the future (kids, marriage, etc).

I feel really overwhelmed and tired all the time because I’m constantly thinking about all of the things that I need to get done for the wedding. Weddings can become obsessive; it’s really easy when you start reading all of the wedding blogs, and magazines and we won’t even talk about Pinterest obsessions. Like I’ve said before, weddings can be like having a 2nd job. Again, maybe you should treat it like one. Set times in your week to work on wedding planning. With your groom, family, Hill Country wedding planner and alone. Maybe it is one hour each evening for 4 days a week. How much planning you need to get done will depend on how long your engagement is and how much your planner is covering for you. However, the time that you spend doesn’t matter half as much as keeping the planning within those timeframes. Set yourself task lists for your planning time. This will keep you focused and will help you avoid the distraction of floating around from one website to another absorbing needless information. You will accomplish more, if you have set goals. It will be easier to make decisions because you have set deadlines. Last and most important, you can achieve planning a wedding without becoming and exploding ball of stress.

My fiancé doesn’t seem to care about all of the time I’m putting into planning this and just gets frustrated when I bring up planning. I can’t blame him. I know it seems really insensitive but you have to, for just one second, think about it from his perspective. My husband (after the wedding) explained it to me like this: “You asking me things about the wedding, like colors or floral arrangements, is like asking me whether I like the coaster here on the table or here.” True story. Guys don’t dream about their wedding for years on end like we do. I think maybe they dream about the honeymoon, but certainly not the dresses and floral arrangements and ceremony backdrops. Try not to vomit everything that pops into your head about the wedding onto him. I’m sure one of your friends who isn’t engaged or is maybe already married would love to live or relive their wedding vicariously through you. Use them as a sounding board. The last and most important thing that I want to share with you is that engagement can be one of the hardest times in your entire relationship thus far. I don’t say that to discourage you, but to encourage you. You are not alone. And it doesn’t mean your marriage is going to fail. It’s just hard. I would highly recommend dedicating one night (at least) per week to a date night with your fiancé. Take turns planning it (one week he plans, next week you plan) and agree to not speak a word of wedding planning to each other for the whole night. Remember what it was like when you went on dates before this stressful time? This will also be vital in helping you cope with marriage. Some early wives struggle with how to re-engage with their partners when the burden of wedding planning is no longer there. Believe me, you both could use a good date night once a week!

You will survive this time and your Hill Country wedding will be magnificent! I hope early into wedding planning you see the value of hiring an official Hill Country wedding planner. Honestly, it is the one thing you absolutely deserve to have.

I am a born and raised Texan. Emily is not. We met in of our less great norther neighbor states. Emily met Texas through me, and they became great friends very quickly. Texas and Emily were as meant to be as Emily and I. We would walk the streets of downtown Fredericksburg on our visits and she would declare to me, “This feels so much like home.” And so it became our home. We got married in the Hill Country on family land, and although Emily was a wedding professional before Texas, this was when her career as a Hill Country wedding planner began.

Having lived beyond the borders of our state, I can testify to the fact that some folks have a poor perception of it. Many a friend of mine hath declared Texas an ugly state having only experienced Amarillo or Dallas. When I would describe for them the hills and beauty of this area they scarcely believed me. In fact, I brought a friend to visit once from Kentucky who said it reminded him of Africa. An interesting comparison. The point being, the Hill Country is a beautiful and unique venue for a wedding. You won’t find a place like it, except Africa apparently.

So why get married in the Texas Hill Country? Perhaps we should be asking you the question since you have likely chosen our little heaven as your venue. Was it local for you? It fit your budget? Or was there a culture or a theme that you found here? Some of these features were true for Emily and I. In fact, all of them. But there are many more reasons why a Hill Country wedding, so we’ve listed just a few.

Weather: You will hear folks all across our nation gripe about Texas being hot. And, yes, they are correct- it is stinking hot. Depending on your threshold of heat, it’s only unbearably hot three months out of the year. And if you’re going to do an outdoor wedding in those months I would recommend a naked theme. But, for the most part, in the Hill Country you can get hitched outdoors in the middle of January, or in the middle of April, or perhaps October. Fewer people are getting married indoors these days. We loved saying our vows outside under and age old oak tree that has witnessed many generations of Burgess’. Texas has a lot of “availability” if you are seeking a day to conduct a big outdoor celebration.

Style: Along with the trend of outdoor weddings, the prominence of creative styles has become quite the movement. For a while we saw brides hiding flip-flops under their dresses, then it was converse all-stars. Good ole cowboy boots took the trend for a while (we still like that one). The rise of outdoor weddings has brought up the challenge of making a wedding fun and comfortable. For example, my groomsmen wore only vests, instead of suits with jackets. They looked awesome and they didn’t want to murder me for putting them in bondage to a tuxedo. This flies in Texas. Texas has very cool style. You see cowboy hats being worn in HEB, boots in church, and suspenders keeping us from seeing more of the old men than any of us could or should handle. Texas has style, and a lot of variety. Just drive through Austin if you doubt me.

Music: This was a big one for me. We wanted people to dance at our wedding. Weddings bring people from several generations together, so you may find yourself in a predicament for music, assuming your Granny Margaret won’t likely shake her junk to Kesha. Texas music on the other hand is easy for everyone to dance to. If you’re not from Texas you might think, well not everyone likes country music. Which is true. But if you have ever experienced two-stepping in Texas, it’s not a factor of whether you like country music or not. Two-stepping is beyond fun- and bonus, it’s likely that your uncles and aunts and grannies and gramps will two step right along-side the young-uns. Texas music makes a great backdrop for lots of folks to enjoy. I did my mother/son dance to Willie Nelson. It was perfect. In Case you aren’t super familiar with the genre of Texas Country, check out Wade Bowen, Cody Canada and the Departed, and Reckless Kelley- these are some of the newer faces and we love them!

The number one reason that Emily and I chose a Texas Hill Country Wedding was because it’s HOME. Family and friends made our wedding the beautiful memory it is for us. Maybe it’s not home for all of you. If you’re not a native, one little Texas wedding might sink the roots of your soul into the Texas soil so deep you won’t ever leave. It happens quite a lot around these parts. Share with us why you love a Texas Hill Country wedding. And for those of you who have found our little heaven in Central Texas, we will hope to see you out there, dancing under the wide open Texas skies.

Today I was chatting with my interior design friend, Candy about bedding and wedding trends. Candy is one of those people is who always fabulous. I hardly ever see her wear the same outfit twice and you can count on her to be on top of the latest and greatest trends. Honestly, I didn’t expect to meet anyone like her, right here in the heart of Texas, but I am so glad I did. Her eye for interior design has challenged me to think about colors and lighting and texture in a whole new light. It has also challenged my pocketbook as I fall in love with all of the high end bedding she is showing me! Things I never knew about, I suddenly “have to have”. Maybe another day I will write about bedding and how marvelous great bedding is and how you should definitely put some good stuff on your registry.

Back to her eye, colors and lighting and texture are all tools that can be used to make a wedding design go from good to well, fabulous. There is no other word that really describes it properly. We were discussing how much wedding and interior design trends crossover. I posed the question “where does it start?” and she promptly said, “Paris of course”. “O yeah, of course!” I replied, all the while thinking “really?” every time I see fashion show clips the girls look gothic and the clothes look like they were pasted on with crazy glue while the artist was intoxicated. Come on, does anyone else think that? Exhibit A:

See what I mean?

I set out this evening to find out the correlation. To see if I could find how the trickle-down effect worked. I started out searching by designer and season on Vogue.com under the fashion show tab. Then again I thought, “Really?” but after some hard searching I began to see it. Although our everyday fashion doesn’t look like the models in Vogue I can see the inspiration- now that I am looking for it.

Examining the Spring 2015 line from Versace and Valentino, the colors and designs are described as “en plein air” with soft colors and warm undertones, taking cues from nature.

Did anyone see bridesmaids dresses like this in this their pinterest or facebook feed this past summer? Like all the time.

Etsy.com

Apryl Ann Photography

Ruffled.com

Do you see the similarities? I’m definitely not an expert on Vogue fashion, but I am officially fascinated. Fashion week is coming up in New York very soon. Maybe I will write a blog about predictions for the next season!

Archives

About Emily

Hi There! I’m Emily Burgess, the owner and founder of Hill Country Bride. Thanks for stopping by! I am so excited to meet you and hope to join you and your loved ones on this new adventure in your lives!